TEL AVIV: Telephones belonging to the Israeli prime minister’s wife and son, Sara and Yair Netanyahu, were allegedly breached by Iranian intelligence services in order to wiretap the Israeli head of government, Independent Arabia reported, citing anonymous sources. According to the news outlet, the hack occurred several months ago, but was eventually discovered and the breach closed.

It remains unclear just how much and what information was leaked, if the hack actually took place, but according to the report, the intrusion, as well as a previous hacking scandal involving Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz’s phone, was unearthed only recently in the run-up to the Israeli elections.

The Israeli prime minister’s office reacted to the report by stating that security officials had run checks that showed no signs of the phones having been hacked.

Last summer, a scandal unfolded following reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the head of Shin Bet to wiretap the phone of then-IDF chief Benny Gantz. Both Netanyahu and the head of Shin Bet have denied organising a hack into Gantz’s phone.

Relations between Iran and Israel remain strained, as the former rejects Israel’s right to exist and has threatened to destroy it on multiple occasions. Tel Aviv , in turn, accuses Tehran of supporting groups like Hamas, which Israel claims Iran uses to achieve its goals.

Tel Aviv is not alone in making such accusations, with several other Middle Eastern states, including Saudi Arabia, also accusing Iran of supporting groups that they describe as terrorists and attempting to alienate the Islamic Republic.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/saudi-media-claims-iran-hacked-netanyahu-familys-phones-tel-aviv-denies/feed/0Iran wants railroad project with Iraq soonhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/iran-wants-railroad-project-with-iraq-soon/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/iran-wants-railroad-project-with-iraq-soon/#respondTue, 12 Mar 2019 11:17:35 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=45973BAGHDAD: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is looking forward to establishing a railroad project with Iraq in the near future, Iraqi state television quoted him as saying on Monday. It provided no further details. Rouhani, who is making his first official visit to Iraq, said in a news conference that he was also looking to improve ...

BAGHDAD: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is looking forward to establishing a railroad project with Iraq in the near future, Iraqi state television quoted him as saying on Monday.

It provided no further details. Rouhani, who is making his first official visit to Iraq, said in a news conference that he was also looking to improve cooperation on security and counter-terrorism matters.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/iran-wants-railroad-project-with-iraq-soon/feed/0Turkey, Iran preparing joint operations against Kurdish militantshttp://theasianpost.co.uk/turkey-iran-preparing-joint-operations-against-kurdish-militants/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/turkey-iran-preparing-joint-operations-against-kurdish-militants/#respondThu, 07 Mar 2019 07:00:35 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=45762ANKARA: Turkey and Iran are preparing to hold joint operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered by Ankara to be a terrorist organization, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Wednesday. “Turkey and Iran are preparing joint operations against PKK terrorists,” Soylu told Anadolu news agency. According to the minister, Turkey has been effectively ...

ANKARA: Turkey and Iran are preparing to hold joint operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered by Ankara to be a terrorist organization, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Wednesday.

According to the minister, Turkey has been effectively fighting the PKK, whose activity in southeastern Turkey has significantly decreased.

“The terrorist organisation is going through the most difficult period in its history,” Soylu added.

The Turkish government has been fighting the PKK, which seeks to establish a Kurdish autonomy in Turkey, since the early 1980s. In 2013, The PKK and Ankara agreed on a ceasefire, but it collapsed just two years later after a number of terror attacks allegedly committed by PKK militants.

In addition, the Turkish authorities consider the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to be a terrorist organisation, and view the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) operating in Syria to be an affiliate of the outlawed group.

Turkish security forces carry out regular anti-PKK raids across the country and conduct airstrikes against the group in northern Iraq. According to the Turkish authorities, over 10,000 PKK members have been neutralized since 2015.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/turkey-iran-preparing-joint-operations-against-kurdish-militants/feed/05 killed in helicopter crash in Western Iranhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/5-killed-in-helicopter-crash-in-western-iran/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/5-killed-in-helicopter-crash-in-western-iran/#respondTue, 05 Mar 2019 14:40:15 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=45676TEHRAN: An ambulance helicopter crashed and killed five people in Iran’s Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, the IRNA news agency reported. All of the victims were the helicopter’s crew, the IRNA news agency said, citing a provincial security official. According to the news agency ISNA, the helicopter crashed some 19 miles away from the city of ...

TEHRAN: An ambulance helicopter crashed and killed five people in Iran’s Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, the IRNA news agency reported.

All of the victims were the helicopter’s crew, the IRNA news agency said, citing a provincial security official.

According to the news agency ISNA, the helicopter crashed some 19 miles away from the city of Shahr-e Kord several minutes after takeoff.

The helicopter, owned by the National Iranian Drilling Company, was transporting an emergency patient from the Amir Kabir offshore oil platform when it “disappeared half a mile from the oil rig on its way back”, Behshahr Governor Khalegh Sajadi stated as quoted by the news agency ISNA. The Chief of the Red Crescent Society of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari has stated that five people were killed in an emergency helicopter crash in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, the helicopter was on an emergency relief mission.

According to reports, the reason for the crash is still unknown, the helicopter’s black box has allegedly not been found yet.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/5-killed-in-helicopter-crash-in-western-iran/feed/0China, Iran meet amid efforts to preserve nuclear dealhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/china-iran-meet-amid-efforts-to-preserve-nuclear-deal/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/china-iran-meet-amid-efforts-to-preserve-nuclear-deal/#respondWed, 20 Feb 2019 06:03:28 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=45102BEIJING: The Iranian foreign minister’s passionate defense of his country’s interests at the Munich Security Conference has made him “a famous person” in China, his Chinese counterpart told him on Tuesday, as the sides met amid efforts to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is leading an Iranian delegation to ...

BEIJING: The Iranian foreign minister’s passionate defense of his country’s interests at the Munich Security Conference has made him “a famous person” in China, his Chinese counterpart told him on Tuesday, as the sides met amid efforts to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is leading an Iranian delegation to Beijing that includes parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani and the ministers of finance and petroleum, as well as the CEO of the country’s central bank.

Germany, Britain, France, China, Russia and the European Union have been trying to preserve the 2015 deal meant to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States last year.

“Yesterday evening I saw on TV how you defended the rights of Iran loud and clear at the Munich Security Conference,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Zarif. “I think an audience of hundreds of millions of Chinese also watched what you said and you are a famous person now.”

A perception held by many Chinese that the US seeks to contain their nation’s global rise generates sympathy among the public for Iran and other countries, such as Venezuela, identified by Washington as hostile powers.

Zarif told the Munich conference on Sunday that a barter-type system known as INSTEX set up last month by France, Germany and Britain to allow businesses to skirt direct financial transactions with Iran, and thereby evade possible US sanctions, fell short of commitments to save the nuclear deal.

He addressed the conference a day after US Vice President Mike Pence prodded Germany, France and Britain to follow Washington in withdrawing from the deal and to “stop undermining US sanctions.”

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/china-iran-meet-amid-efforts-to-preserve-nuclear-deal/feed/0EU signatories of Nuclear Deal are deceiving Tehran: Khameneihttp://theasianpost.co.uk/eu-signatories-of-nuclear-deal-are-deceiving-tehran-khamenei/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/eu-signatories-of-nuclear-deal-are-deceiving-tehran-khamenei/#respondTue, 19 Feb 2019 06:07:43 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=44988TEHRAN: At the same time, European signatories to the deal, striving to preserve the accord, were recently slammed by US Vice President Mike Pence, who stated that they were “undermining the US sanctions”. A day before, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the EU’s current efforts are insufficient to maintain the Iranian Nuclear Deal. ...

TEHRAN: At the same time, European signatories to the deal, striving to preserve the accord, were recently slammed by US Vice President Mike Pence, who stated that they were “undermining the US sanctions”.

A day before, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the EU’s current efforts are insufficient to maintain the Iranian Nuclear Deal.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated on Monday that European signatories of the nuclear deal were deceiving Tehran, a local TV broadcasted cited the official as saying.

“America’s enmity towards Iran is obvious. Our enemies’ heart is full of enmity towards the Islamic Republic… our officials should not be deceived by the Europeans… don’t be fooled by Europeans,” Khamenei said.

He also warned the officials and advised them “to exercise caution [in dealing with Europe] so that they will not be tricked by them and cause problems for the country.”

His remark comes after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated on Sunday that Tehran couldn’t act as the only side that’s trying to preserve the accord, therefore, Europe needed “to get wet if it wants to swim against the dangerous tide of US unilateralism”.

Prior to that, US Vice President Mike Pence said that the EU should withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and stop circumventing the US’ reinstated sanctions against Tehran.

At present, Iran is engaged in talks with the EU bloc as they work on creating a trade mechanism that would allow the parties to continue trade relations amid US sanctions.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/eu-signatories-of-nuclear-deal-are-deceiving-tehran-khamenei/feed/0Top UN court rejects US claim to throw out Iranian suithttp://theasianpost.co.uk/top-un-court-rejects-us-claim-to-throw-out-iranian-suit/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/top-un-court-rejects-us-claim-to-throw-out-iranian-suit/#respondFri, 15 Feb 2019 05:32:58 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=44822UNITED NATIONS: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that it has the jurisdiction to hear part of a case brought by Iran against the United States, aimed at unfreezing close to $2 billion in Iranian assets being held there. The Hague-based court’s ruling opens the way for the court to now hear Iran’s ...

UNITED NATIONS: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that it has the jurisdiction to hear part of a case brought by Iran against the United States, aimed at unfreezing close to $2 billion in Iranian assets being held there.

The Hague-based court’s ruling opens the way for the court to now hear Iran’s case on its merits, which news reports suggest, given the complexity of the case, could take several years. Iran filed the case in 2016, based on the 1955 Treaty of Amity between the two nations, from which the US later unilaterally withdrew, in 2018.

The case revolved around assets seized from the Iranian national bank, Bank Markazi, which were taken by the US to compensate victims of a 1983 suicide bombing of a Marine Corps base in Beirut, Lebanon, which the US blames on Tehran. Iran denies involvement in the attack which killed more than 300, injuring many more, most of whom were US military personnel.

The US has argued that Iran’s claims to retrieving its assets based on the Treaty of Amity, were now void, following the US decision to withdraw.

In an 11-4 majority ruling on Wednesday, the ICJ upheld one of five US objections, in this instance to the court’s jurisdiction, based on Iran’s assertion of State immunity, but the judges unanimously rejected the US argument that measures freezing Iranian assets fell outside the scope of the treaty.

The judges also unanimously rejected the US claim that the case was an abuse of process, and that it should be thrown out due to Tehran’s “unclean hands”, the US having cited Iran’s alleged sponsorship of terrorism and alleged ambitions to develop nuclear weapons.

ICJ President Abdulqawi Yusuf, reading the ruling, said that the panel “unanimously finds that it has jurisdiction…to rule on the application filed by the Islamic Republic of Iran on 14 June 2016.”

Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, chief judge at the ICJ, said the court “unanimously rejects the preliminary objections to admissibility raised by the United States of America”.

The court also “finds that it has jurisdiction” to rule on the case, which was filed by Iran in 2016, Yusuf said at the end of an hour-long reading of the judgment.

TEHRAN: A suicide bombing hit a bus carrying members of the Iranian military’s elite Revolutionary Guards in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan Baluchistan, killing 30 people and wounding 10, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

The explosion struck the vehicle on a desert road near Iran’s volatile border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. It comes two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. The suicide bomber struck the bus transporting IRGC members on the road between the cities of Zahedan and Khash in Sistan-Baluchistan Province, a volatile area near the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan where militant groups and drug smugglers frequently operate, Fars reported. No further details about the attack were immediately available.

No immediate claim of responsibility was made for the attack, which came on the day of a US-led conference in Warsaw that included discussions on what the United States describes as Iran’s malign influence across the wider Middle East.

The Guard is a major economic and military power in Iran, answerable only to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In 2009, more than 40 people, including six Guard commanders, were killed in a suicide attack in Sistan and Baluchistan province.

Most recently, an attack on a military parade in September 2018 in Iran’s oil-rich southwest killed more than 20 and wounded about 60.

On January 29, a double bombing in Zahedan, the provincial capital, wounded three police officers. The militant Sunni Muslim separatist group Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for that attack. In December a suicide bombing in the port city of Chabahar, also in the province, killed two police officers and wounded 42 people.

At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in a coordinated June 7, 2017 Islamic State group assault on Parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/30-iranian-revolutionary-guards-killed-in-suicide-bombing/feed/0Iran slams US as huge crowds mark 40 years since revolutionhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/iran-slams-us-as-huge-crowds-mark-40-years-since-revolution/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/iran-slams-us-as-huge-crowds-mark-40-years-since-revolution/#respondMon, 11 Feb 2019 18:18:16 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=44630TEHRAN: Iran’s President on Monday blasted a US “conspiracy” against the country as vast crowds marked 40 years since the Islamic revolution at a time of heightened tensions with Washington. “The presence of people today on the streets all over Islamic Iran… means that the enemy will never reach its evil objectives,” Rouhani told those ...

TEHRAN: Iran’s President on Monday blasted a US “conspiracy” against the country as vast crowds marked 40 years since the Islamic revolution at a time of heightened tensions with Washington. “The presence of people today on the streets all over Islamic Iran… means that the enemy will never reach its evil objectives,” Rouhani told those thronging Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) square.

Chador-clad women, militia members in camouflage fatigues and ordinary citizens marched through the capital in freezing rain to mark the day in February 1979 that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ended millenia of royal rule. Life-size replicas of Iranian-made cruise and ballistic missiles lined the route in a statement of defiance after Washington last year reimposed sanctions after pulling out of a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

A pre-prepared resolution was read out that proclaimed “unquestioning obedience to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei” and called US President Donald Trump an “idiot”. The event Monday was the culmination of official celebrations called the “10 Day Dawn” that mark the period between February 1, 1979 and February 11 when Shiite cleric Khomeini retuned from exile and ousted the shah’s last government.

The state has played up this year’s anniversary as 40 is symbolic of maturity in the Islamic tradition and the age at which Prophet Mohammed received revelations from God. But despite the official festivities today’s Islamic republic faces acute economic challenges as it struggles with a mix of domestic hardships and US sanctions.

– ‘Support the revolution’ –

State television offered blanket coverage of the commemorations, showing marchers in cities ranging from Abadan in southwestern Iran to Mashad in the northeast. Banners held by marchers or hung along the streets bore slogans including “Death to America”, “Death to Israel”, “we will trample on America”, “forty yeas of challenge, forty years of US defeats”.

An anchor on state television warned of hostile foreign media trying to downplay the participation of Iranians in the march but expressed confidence that “they would be confounded by the unprecedented level of attendance”. Those who took to the streets were bullish despite the economic problems in the country, made worse by Washington’s punitive measures.

Former public servant Saaghi insisted that it remained paramount for Iranians to stick by the revolution. “We are here to support the revolution,” the 57-year-old pensioner, who refused to give his first name, told AFP at the event in Tehran.

He compared the US sanctions and economic hardships to “riding a bicycle when someone puts a stick in the wheels” but pointed to advances in other fields as more than making up for them. “At the revolution’s 40 anniversary we are on top of scientific achievements like nanotechnology or accurate missiles,” he said.

Extensive fireworks displays were held across Tehran on Sunday night. Before the fireworks, supporters of the revolution shouted chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) from rooftops, recalling the protests that swept Khomeini to power four decades earlier.

Current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set to publish “a detailed statement explaining the ‘second step’ of the progress of the Islamic revolution”, his official website said.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/iran-slams-us-as-huge-crowds-mark-40-years-since-revolution/feed/0Syria, Iran agree to ditch dollar in bilateral transactionshttp://theasianpost.co.uk/syria-iran-agree-to-ditch-dollar-in-bilateral-transactions/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/syria-iran-agree-to-ditch-dollar-in-bilateral-transactions/#respondWed, 30 Jan 2019 17:30:03 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=43983TEHRAN/DOHA: Iran sealed economic and trade deals with Syria, as Damascus is looking to its allies to help with the reconstruction effort after its eight-year-long war. Iran and Syria have agreed on measures that will allow bank transactions in their local currencies and non-dollar foreign currencies as the two countries have decided to deepen trade and investment relations. Damascus ...

TEHRAN/DOHA: Iran sealed economic and trade deals with Syria, as Damascus is looking to its allies to help with the reconstruction effort after its eight-year-long war.

Iran and Syria have agreed on measures that will allow bank transactions in their local currencies and non-dollar foreign currencies as the two countries have decided to deepen trade and investment relations.

Damascus and Tehran signed 11 agreements, including a “long-term strategic economic cooperation deal”, which spans industry, trade and agriculture.

According to Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, who is currently in Syria with a delegation of trade officials, the deals included “very important agreements on banking cooperation”.

Addressing an Iranian-Syrian business forum in Damascus, Jahangiri stated that “ministers confirmed that banking transactions will take place very soon between the countries”.

Chairman of the Syrian Chambers of Commerce Mohamad Hamsho, for his part, stressed that the deals had been concluded to “overcome obstacles with respect to the banking activity” between Damascus and Tehran.

Jahangiri noted that Iran would also help repair power stations across the Arab Republic and set up a new plant in the coastal province of Latakia.

In addition, two memoranda of understanding (MOU) were inked between the railway authorities of the two countries, as well as between their investment promotion authorities.

During the ongoing crisis in Syria, Iran has been sending military advisers to the country to help fight terrorists at Damascus’s official request.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the al-Alam News Network last June that Iran had no military bases in Syria, but if such a need occurred, “we will not hesitate”.